Gate mechanism for bottle dispensing containers



Dec. 8, 1953 L. M. HARRIS 2,661,992

GATE MECHANISM FOR BOTTLE DISPENSING CONTAINERS Filed Sept. 8, 1951 INVENTOR I PATENT AGENT I LARRY M. HA RIS Patented Dec. 8, 1953 7 f GATE MECHANISM FOR BOTTLE DISPENSING CONTAINERS Larry M. Harris, San Jose, Calif. Application September 8, 1951, Serial No. 245,725

(o1. 312 ss) 4 Claims.

The present invention relates to bottle-dispensing containers of the type wherein the bottles are retained in the 'container by means of a cover structure and protrude with their necks through and above channels, provided in said cover structure, which are too narrow to permit passage of the bottle bodies therethrough. To enable a purchaser to make a choice amongst a variety of different kinds of bottled beverages, said cover structure contains usually a plurality of parallel channels, one for each different type of beverage, and said channels all communicate with a narrow cross channel which leads to the bottle-dispensing station whereat said cross channel, or a side branch thereof, expands suh'iciently far to permit total withdrawal of a bottle therethrough. Access from said cross channel to said dispensing station is normally barred by a gate mechanism that may be operated by a suitable coin-controlled actuating mechanism to admit a single bottle from the cross channel into said bottle-dispensing station. Hence, a bottle selected from any one of said parallel channels may be moved into and along said cross channel to the described gate mechanism and may, upon payment of the proper coin that enables effective operation of the actuating mechanism, be moved into the dispensing station from where it can be withdrawn.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a bottle gate mechanism, of the type referred to, that is simple in construction and effective in operation.

I Another object of the invention'is to provide a gate mechanism, of the type referred to, that dependably limits passage of bottles therethrough to a single bottle for every effective stroke of the coin-controlled actuating mechanism therefor.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a bottle gate mechanism, of the type referred to, that may readily be associated with, and operated by, any type of coin-controlled actuating mechanism possessing a reciprocating actuating arm.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a bottle gate mechanism, of the type referred to, that is compact and may readily be installed in bottle containers of the type described.

These and other object of the present invention will be apparent from the following descriptionv of the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment thereof and wherein:

- Figure 1 is, a fragmentary plan view of a coin- 2 controlled bottle-dispensing container provided with a bottle gate mechanism embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the bottle gate mechanism illustrated in Figure 1 viewed in the direction of the arrows 2-2, and

Figure 3 is a horizontal section through the bottle gate mechanism illustrated in Figure 2 taken along lines 33 thereof.

Referring first to Figure 1, the reference numeral ii) designates the side wall of a container, such as a refrigerated box, in which bottles of beverages may be stored in upright condition with their necks protruding through parallel channels H formed in a retainer plate I2 that is firmly secured to said side wall it of the container in any suitable manner. The channels I I are too narrow to pass the bodies of the bottles 53 therethrough, and'all said parallel channels communicate with an equally narrow cross channel 14 that leads to the bottle-dispensing station proper which is formed by the expanding end of a side channel l6 that is laterally bounded by two vertical side walls or partitions I"! and 18. Access to the dispensing station 15 is normally barred by a gate Bil that is mounted at the left side wall I? of the branch channel l6 as shown in Figures 2 and 3. Said gate mechanism 20 is formed by a horizontally positioned disc 23 that is firmly mounted upon a vertically disposed tubular bushing 26 which turns on a vertical pivot 24a the opposite ends of which are suitably held in the horizontal flanges 25a and 26a of angle bars 25 and Y26, respectively, that are secured with their vertical flanges to the inner face of the channel wall ll.

. The disc 23 is of circular contour with a large arcuate recess 21 cut into its periphery so that it has somewhat the shape of a crescent and its pivot 23a is mounted so closely adjacent to the side wall I I that a large segment of said disc projects-through a narrow horizontal slot 23 in said side wall into the dispensing channel It. Means are provided to normally hold said crescentshaped disc 23 in a rotary position wherein one of its horns 23a. protrudes into the dispensing channel it with the arcuate recess 2? facing in a direction away from the entrance portion of said dispensing channel as illustrated in full lines in Figure 3. In this position the disc presents a part of its convex periphery to any bottle that may be moved into the dispensing channel I6, and effectively bars any such bottle from the dispensiing station proper, To maintain the disc in said position a notch 3i is provided inv its periphery and said notch is engaged by the head 32 of a latch 33 that is pivotally mounted upon the horizontal flange 25a of the lower angle bar 25 and is urged into notch engaging position by a spring 34 (Figure 2) suitably tensioned between its head 32 and the lower protruding end of the pivot 24a.

For the gate formed by the crescent shaped disc 23 to pass a bottle, it must be turned in clockwise directioninto'the p'ositionindicated ln phantom lines in Figure 3 wherein it presents its arcuate recess El to the entrance end portion of the dispensing channel I6. A bottle I3 may then be moved into said arcuate recess, an'd upon pushing the bottle further along the channel it, the disc 23 will swing back to its originaloounterclockwise position while the bottle passes ahead of its trailing horn 23a into thedispensingstaLtion and the latch'head 32, such that upon its forward thrust the leading end of said bar will engage a suitable roller 42 pivoted to the latch head 32 and cam the latch out of the notch 31 in the periphery of the disc. Likewise, disposed within the path of the advancing actuating bar so -a limited distance beyond its point of contact with roller d2 is an actuating stud 53 that is integral with and projects upwardly from the disc 23. 2

Hence, after the advancing actuating bar 41 has unlatched the disc 23 and while it keeps the latch head-32 away from the edge of the disc, itengages the stud 3 and moves the disc 23 in clockwise direction into the bottle receiving position indi- :51:

cated in phantom lines in Figure 3, where it may remain after the actuating bar has been retracted into its position of rest. To prevent excessive clockwise rotation of the disc beyond the position in which it is adapted to receive a bottle into its arcuate recess 22, another notch T5 is provided in its contour at a point angularly displaced from the notch 3i in counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 3. Said notch is engaged by the head of the latch '33 as soon as the actuating bar iii is returned to its initial position. The notch it is of such conformation as to'positively prevent further rotation of the disc in clockwise direction while permitting disengagement of the latch head against the urgency of spring 35 whenever sufficient force is applied to the disc in counterclockwise direction, such as is the case when a purchaser pushes a bottle into and against the concave edge of the arcuate recess 21 of disc 23. When this happens 'the'latch head 32 is forced out of the notch s5 and slides along the edge or" the rotating disc 23 to drop into the looking notch 3i under the urgency of spring ts before the disc 23 reaches the'rotary position in which it releases a bottle into the dispensing sta= tion proper. Hence, the disc must be turned further in counterclockwise position to deliver the bottle into the dispensing station than necessary for said disc to be locked against clockwise rotation, and as a result thereof it is impossible to pass more than one bottle through the gate for each effective stroke of the coin-controlled bar 4? .As :a' security against attempts to-by-pass the cessed disc 50 may be firmly mounted upon the bushing 2d a limited distance above, and in rotary alignment with, the disc 23 and protrudes through another horizontal slot 5| in the wall ll into the channel [6, as best shown in Figure 2. As said second disc 5c is rigidly connected to and moves in unison with the above described disc 23, it will be understood that no separate latching or actuatingme'ans are required-for the second disc.

The described mechanism is simple and inexpensive in construction and dependable in operation. For performance it requires actuating mechanisms of the simplest kind only and may readily "be combined with any known coin-controlled actuating mechanism of the type having a reciprocatingactuator bar. It takes a minimum ofspace and'may, therefore, readily be installed in any type of dispensing bottle container, refrigerator and the like.

While I have described my invention with the aid .of aspecifio embodiment thereof, it will be understood that I do not wish to be limited to thespecific constructional details shown and described which may be departed from without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

What I claimis:

1. A gate mechanism for bottles comprising members arranged to form a channel adopted to guide .bottles,a rotor mounted for rotation about a vertical axis and being or a diametrical size to effectively bar the channel for the passage of bottles, said rotor having a recess in its periphery adapted to receive a single bottle and to pass it upon rotation from one to the other end of the channel, latching means efiective during said bottle passing rotation to engage said rotor and prevent rotation thereof in the opposite direction, and means operable to disengage said latching means and turn said rotor in said opposite direction.

2. A gate mechanism for bottles comprising members forming the side walls or" a channel adapted to guide bottles, a rotor mounted for rotation adjacent one of said side walls and being of a diametrical size to eiiectively bar the channel for the-passage of bottles, said rotor having an arcuate recess in its periphery adapted to receive a single bottle and to pass it upon rotation from one to the other-end of the channel, latchingimeans eiiectiveduring said bottle passing rotation to engage said rotor and prevent rotation thereof in the opposite direction, and means operable to disengage said latching means and turn said rotor in said opposite direction, said latching means being adapted to limit rotation of said rotor in said opposite direction at a predetermined rotary position thereof.

3. In a bottle dispensing container of the type having a bottle guide channel leading to a bottle dispensing station; a gate mechanism operable by a coin-controlled actuatin bar, said gate mechanism 1 comp-rising mem ers arranged to form the bottleguide channel, a rotor mounted for rotation laterally ad acent said channel and being of a size to eifeotively bar said channel, said rotor having a recess in its periphery adapted, upon rotation from a position where said recess .faces said channel to a position wherein said recess faces said station, to pass a single bottle from said channel to said station; latching means effective to engage said rotor during said bottle-passing rotation and prevent rotation thereof in the-opposite direction, said latching described gate by tilting :the b0tt1'e,'3,.sec0nd.1emeans being located in the path of said actuating 8 bar such that it isengaged by said bar during each effective stroke thereof and forced out of said latching depression; and means adapted to be engaged by said actuating bar and efiective upon such engagement to turn said rotor in said opposite direction.

4. A gate mechanism for bottles comprising two parallel side walls forming a bottle guide channel having an entrance and an exit portion, said gate mechanism comprising a circular disc mounted for rotation about a, vertical axis adjacent one of said side walls, said disc being of a diametrical size adapted to effectively bar said channel for the passage of bottles but having an arcuate recess in its periphery adapted to receive a bottle and pass it through said channel,

upon rotation from a position wherein said recess races the entrance portion to a position wherein said recess faces the exit portion of said channel; a latch yieldably urgedagainst the periphery of said disc, said disc having a first latchin depression in its periphery adapted to be engaged by said latch during said bottle passing rotation upon a predetermined increment thereof to prevent rotation of said disc in th opposite direction; means operable to force said latch out of said depression and turn said disc in said opposite direction, said dis-c having a second latching depression in its periphery adapted to be engaged by said latching means to limit rotation of said disc in the said opposite direction to a rotary position wherein said bottle receiving recess faces the entrance end of said channel.

LARRY M. HARRIS.

References Cited in the file or this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 443,365 Jewell Dec. 23, 1890 627,505 Jaeger et a1 June 27, 1899 829,245 Asplund Aug. 21, 1906 2,114,246 Baker et a1. Apr. 12, 1938 2,174,712 Warner et al.- Oct. 3, 1939 2,405,891 Larimore Aug. 13, 1946 2,579,925 Jackson Dec. 25, 1951 

